The Arnhem Space Centre (ASC) is Australia's first and only commercial spaceport, located near

Nhulunbuy Nhulunbuy () is a township that is the sixth largest population centre in the Northern Territory of Australia. Nhulunbuy was created on the Gove Peninsula in north-east Arnhem Land when a bauxite mine and a deep water port were established ...

, in

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

, Australia. It is owned and operated by Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA), and it is the site of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

's first non-orbital sounding rocket launch from a commercial port outside the United States on 27 June 2022.

Background

The project was announced in 2019.

Description

The spaceport is located near

, a township on the Gove Peninsula in north-east

, in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. The ASC is owned and operated by Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA), which has its head office in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. Arnhem Space Centre is equipped to launch both sub-orbital flights and small orbital flights. The site's location, only 12 degrees south of the

equator The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...

, is preferable for orbital rockets launching east, as extra speed is provided due to the spin of

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

. It is the first commercial spaceport in Australia, and the only one.

Launches

On 26 June 2022, the American space agency

used the site for its first launch from a commercial port outside the United States. The rocket was a

Black Brant IX The Black Brant is a family of Canadian-designed sounding rockets originally built by Bristol Aerospace, since absorbed by Magellan Aerospace in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Over 800 Black Brants of various versions have been launched since they were firs ...

carrying a X-ray Quantum Calorimeter (XQC) instrument for UW–Madison for the purpose of X-ray astronomy for a brief period ( 5-20 min) in space. The mission was a suborbital flight with apogee of . It was the first launch of a suborbital sounding rocket from Arnhem Space Centre in north-east

. The mission was successful. A second launch was scheduled for 4 July but was delayed until 6 July 11:17pm ACST due to weather conditions. The spacecraft, named ''Sistine III'', was sent by NASA to investigate the properties of

astronomical transit In astronomy, a transit (or astronomical transit) is a phenomenon when a celestial body passes directly between a larger body and the observer. As viewed from a particular vantage point, the transiting body appears to move across the face of t ...

s of nearby

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s. The third launch took place on 11 July 2022 at 8:31pm ACST, carrying the fourth DEUCE mission, intended by NASA to investigate and analyze the

Alpha Centauri Alpha Centauri ( Latinized from α Centauri and often abbreviated Alpha Cen or α Cen) is a triple star system in the constellation of Centaurus. It consists of 3 stars: Alpha Centauri A (officially Rigil Kentaurus), Alpha Centaur ...

star system's

ultraviolet Ultraviolet (UV) is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelength from 10 nanometer, nm (with a corresponding frequency around 30 Hertz, PHz) to 400 nm (750 Hertz, THz), shorter than that of visible light, but longer than ...

spectrum. the long term future of the site is not known, but Equatorial Launch Australia has indicated that there are other space companies interested in using the rocket launch pad, and NASA has confirmed that it will use the facility again in the future.

References

External links

*{{official, https://ela.space/arnhem-space-centre/ Spaceports Rocket launch sites Space programme of Australia Arnhem Land

Background

Description

Launches

See also

References

External links